Sony Xperia P and Xperia U delayed to late May

The junior members of Sony's new smartphone triforce will have to wait a little longer to distinguish themselves from the top of the line Xperia S. According to UK online retailer Clove, both the Xperia P and the Xperia U have been pushed back to a May 28th release. Technically we can only deduce that the delay is true for the United Kingdom, but given Sony's general release habits this probably means it's true for greater Europe as well.

The Xperias P and U are very much like the HTC One S and One V when compared to the One X. The Xperia P gets a 4-inch QHD screen, a dual-core 1.0Ghz dual-core processor, 16GB of on-board memory and the now-standard 8MP camera. The Xperia U is aimed squarely at the low end, with the same 1Ghz processor but half the RAM of the P, just 4GB of built-in storage and a 5-megapixel camera. The U gets some charming swappable panels for the "chin" area. Both will run Gingerbread at launch.

Both phones share the subtly futuristic styling of the larger and more powerful Xperia S, and will be available unlocked on GSM carriers. None of the phones feature LTE radios at this point, and as yet we haven't heard of the P or the U heading stateside any time soon (the Xperia S is available unlocked and will debut on AT&T as the modified Xperia Ion). If Sony continues its usual methods, both phones should be available without a SIM lock no more than a couple of months after they show up overseas.